Joey O’Brien: “It’s All About the Game in Front of Us” | OneFootball

The Reds are back in Tolka Park for the visit of Cork City in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division. (7:45pm live on LOITV)

The side had a full week of training at the AUL, after a busy run of back-to-back Friday-Monday fixtures.

Interim manager Joey O’Brien delivered a squad update on Thursday night, telling ShelbourneFC.ie: “We’ve a full, clean bill of health going into this one. Sam Bone is back involved, he picked up a knock before the Galway game but he’s grand now. Ryan O’Kane has gone out on loan to Sligo, which is a good move for him. He hasn’t played as much as he would have liked, so hopefully he gets minutes and a bit of a run down there before coming back into us.”

The Reds arrive into this meeting after successive solid performances that could’ve taken three points. Last Monday’s draw with Waterford was followed by a draw in Galway. O’Brien feels there was plenty to take on the positive side:

“I’m happy with the performances, but if you look back over the season, the story has been repeated, not good enough in both boxes when it matters most. We haven’t been clinical enough and we’ve made some costly mistakes. We’ve given away poor goals, and the lads know that. They’re not hiding from it, they feel it.

“The great thing about football is there’s always another opportunity. It’s been a couple of weeks since we’ve played at home, so this is a great chance to bounce into the game with a strong crowd behind us. Fans at Tolka, they have been brilliant all season, even when games weren’t going our way, they’re fully with you. This game is the most important one now, and we’re looking to put in a performance and give them something that gets them up and out of their seat as well.”

After a gruelling few weeks and a busy, congested run of fixtures, the Reds boss was delighted to get back to something resembling normality at the AUL this week: “Yeah it was back to a normal week now after the Monday-Friday schedule last week. The lads came in and trained well on Monday and Tuesday, and we worked on the tactical side of things again today. Training’s been sharp, the intensity has been good, the lads have been on it. Performances have been strong, but we haven’t got the wins we’ve deserved. It’s another tough game, but a great chance at home to go and get what we’re after, 3 points.”

This is the third meeting between the sides this season. The last two games have both ended in draws. O’Brien reckons Cork will be a different animal, having strengthened in recent weeks: “We played them just before the break, and since then a few players have come in, some have gone out, but for the new lads, it could be their first game against us, so there’s a bit of the unknown. Looking at them last week, they were well organised and probably disappointed not to beat Pats, played very well. It’s going to be a really tough game. But we’re in Tolka, we need to go and attack the game in front of us, get the crowd up and going and create a real buzz around the ground.”

Tomorrow night is the final League of Ireland game before the European adventure begins on Wednesday at Tolka Park with the visit of Linfield. O’Brien had a word of warning for players thinking too far ahead: “I’ve said it today to the lads, it’s all about the game in front of you. You can look ahead to Wednesday all you want, but if you don’t perform on Friday, you won’t be in that team Wednesday. We need to put in a performance and get the win. Our league position tells us that we haven’t won enough this season. The lads have put the work in, now it’s about delivering.”